The present invention relates to the field of data interaction and, more particularly, to an impairment-adaptive electronic data interaction system.
It is now commonplace for people to interact with electronic data, often referred to as content, on a daily basis; for individual and/or business purposes. Portable electronic devices like smartphones and tablet computers allow people to interact with desired data more often and in more places. As a result, the amount of electronic data, in its various forms (e.g., documents, applications, videos, Web pages, etc.), is ever-increasing in the world.
Content is created with a target demographic in mind. This target demographic is often broad (e.g., youth, parents, males, females, etc.) and tends to overlook the ability of the demographic to adequately interact with the content. For example, the chromatic scheme used on a Web page is often selected based on technical factors (i.e., the pixel hue rendering is supported properly by a variety of browsers or devices), psychological factors (i.e., the background has a calming effect), and/or taste (i.e., the author likes red). While the choice of RGB properties for the Web page will not affect the majority of users, those having a visual impairment like an inability to distinguish red and green will be at a disadvantage. These chroma choices are capable of rendering the entire Web page unusable to a visually-impaired user.
Unless impaired users are the target demographic, most content is created without consideration for impaired users. Content created by large companies is more likely to offer different modes or alternate versions to accommodate impaired users. While this is appreciated, user impairments are often too specific to be handled in a general manner. For example, a software application includes a mode for chroma insensitive users. There are four types of chroma impairments (i.e., red, green, blue, and total) and each user, even if of the same type, will have different levels of severity.